Christopher Brown reports:
PowerSchool Holdings Inc. is facing three federal lawsuits alleging the education software provider negligently failed to protect the personal information of students, parents, and teachers that was exposed in a December data breach.
Sheilah Buack-Shelton, Tyler Baker, and Kimberly Kinney alleged in separate complaints that PowerSchool breached its duties under common law, contract law, industry standards, and the Federal Trade Commission Act to implement reasonable and adequate data security measures and provide timely notice of the breach.
Information exposed in the incident includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, contact information, medical and financial information, student grades and grade-point averages, bus-stop information, and employment information, according to complaints filed Jan. 8-9 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California.
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The cases are Buack-Shelton v. PowerSchool Holdings Inc., E.D. Cal., No. 2:25-at-00037, complaint filed 1/8/25, Baker v. PowerSchool Holdings Inc., E.D. Cal., No. 2:25-at-00040, complaint filed 1/9/25, and Kinney v. PowerSchool Holdings Inc., E.D. Cal., No. 2:25-at-00042, complaint filed 1/9/25.
Read more at Bloomberg Law.
School districts aren’t off the hook. They had every opportunity to assess the vendor’s security practices prior to purchase.